Challenge
by AKA DD
Summary: from A to Z. Yes, it's another one of the Nickeldime17's challenge responses. NOW UP: G is Girl - Max and Logan find the cure, what is Alec to do?
1. Chapter 1: A is Anything

**Disclaimer: DA, not mine.**

**A/N: Got sucked into it, too, folks. Thanks Nickeldime17 for the prompts. I figure short one shots like these would help me write again. It's been too long, and I desperately need a distraction from Finals.**

**A**NYTHING

She stared out over Seattle, the wind whipping her dark hair behind her. She inhaled the cold, wet air deeply, feeling her lungs expand to its full capacity until she almost suffocated on air. Then she exhaled. The sudden release left her with a heady, almost dizzying feeling of relief.

She did it again.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Just…_breathe_.

Some days, she could actually live with what she was. Some days, she could actually forget _who_ she was.

Then, there were days like today. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the piece of paper that Logan had given her. He had looked so distraught when he had handed her the slip of paper that she just _knew_.

_Rancher Adam Thompson, Missing, Presumed Dead_

Right underneath the small headline was a picture of a man with dirty blond hair, a chiseled jaw, and a stern mouth. She traced his face on the picture, remembering how the angles and planes had felt underneath her palm. The picture may have been in black and white, but she knew those serious eyes staring right into the camera were blue—the cool, pale, hard-to-forget kind. Those ice-colored eyes had once been the warmest color she could remember.

"Zack—" she whispered out into the wind. "I'm so sorry."

Her hands turned into fists, crumpling the short news article. Logan had said that it was possible Manticore had somehow tracked him down—something about how there might have been a microchip embedded in his mechanical heart.

Tears streamed down Max's face. She could almost feel every single beat of her heart—_his_ heart—inside of her. _Why?_

Max didn't even realize she had asked the question out loud until a voice answered her from behind.

"Because he would have done anything for you."

She spun around in surprise and anger. "What are you doing here?" she hissed, her voice like acid. She scrubbed the back of her hand over her face, impatiently wiping away the tears. Her motorcycle glove scratched her face, but she didn't care, welcomed the slight pain, instead.

Alec stood a few feet away from her, his face devoid of its usual amused smirk. He shrugged easily. "Came to enjoy the view,"

She narrowed her eyes angrily at him.

He pursed his lips and looked away, staring in the same distant direction she had been staring at. "Logan called. He said you might need…a friend."

Max laughed. The sound was hollow and mirthless. "And he sent _you_?"

Alec stared at her, his hazel eyes boring into her, searching. "Who else?"

Max looked away quickly. He was right. Who else would have found her? Who else would have come up here? Who else knew? Who else _understood_?

"Leave me alone, Alec," she sighed heavily.

"It wasn't your fault, Max," he murmured, defying her and walking towards her instead. He stood next to her, his shoulder close, but not touching hers. He stood right at the edge of the Space Needle just like she did. Fearless. Showing her that he was right there next to her where no one else in her life would ever stand next to her like this.

The look she flashed him was bitter. Angry. "Not my fault? Do you even know what happened?"

"You can tell me."

"_I_ got shot. _I_ failed. I had a mission and I _failed_." She said, her voice flat and emotionless. "He could have gone out. He could have saved himself…" she broke off as sudden tears choked her. "But he saved me instead."

There was a strange silence between them, punctuated by Max's deep, sobbing breaths. Alec felt paralyzed, unable to comfort her, not really knowing how. All he knew was that…he understood Zack.

"Why?" she whispered again.

"Anything. He would have done anything for you."

She looked at him, her dark eyes blazing with the fire of anger and swimming in tears. "I _never_ asked him for _anything_!"

Alec stared at her, not knowing how to explain. "Sometimes, you don't have to ask. Sometimes…it's just the way it is." He shook his head trying to find the words to make sense of the _rightness_ in what Zack had done. He turned to look at her, peered into her tear-streaked face. "You were important to him…you meant something…and for that something, he would do anything."

She was shaking her head. He sighed. He couldn't say it any better than he already had. It wasn't something he could put into words. It was something he felt and understood. "Max," he whispered, his voice low and hesitant. "I understand him."

She looked at him from the corner of her eyes.

"I would do anything for you."

She moved so fast he was laying on the hard metal surface of the Space Needle before he even registered the numbing pain in his jaw. Suddenly, she straddled him and grabbed both his wrists. Her grip was so strong he didn't doubt that she could snap his bones if she added any more pressure. There was such fury in her eyes.

"Don't. Ever. Say. That."

_X5-599, I have a heart for you._ BANG!

Max flinched at the memory. Her heart was pounding so hard that it actually hurt. All she could hear was Zack's voice floating in her head. And then all she could see was Alec's lifeless eyes staring at her. And it scared her. It shook her to her very core.

_I would do anything for you._

"_Never_, Alec, do you hear me?" Her voice was urgent and almost hysterical. If she could just make him promise, if she could just make sure…she didn't think she could live knowing he would die for her, too. She didn't think she would survive if he did. She didn't understand why her reaction was the way it was. But she _knew_, deep down inside, that it was true. Her grip on his wrists tightened at the thought, until he actually flinched. "I said, do you hear me!" she screamed.

She dug her fingernails into his wrists until they drew blood. Until he finally nodded.

Max released her grip on his wrists suddenly, as if they burned her. She got up abruptly and stared down at him. "I also asked you to leave me alone," and with that, she spun around and walked away, heart still pounding, legs shaking.

_I would do anything for you._

_Please don't,_ she thought achingly to herself. She threw one last look at him over her shoulder. He was sitting up, flexing his wrists, his eyes searching and meeting hers in the dark. He looked young and vulnerable in the moonlight, his confused expression marring the handsomeness of his face. She felt annoyance, almost anger, at the thought of him saying something so ridiculously stupid.

At the thought of him doing something even crazier…like dying for her.

She would stop at nothing to make sure he didn't.

Her step faltered, and she looked away from his eyes quickly. Her heart raced and she almost gasped. In that moment, Max understood.

She would do anything for him, too.

END.


	2. Chapter 2: B is Brick

**A/N: I haven't written in a logn while, and I couldn't wrap myself around this prompt. I just really needed to get past 'brick'. I didn't know what else to write about. Sorry. Hope you still like this.**

**Disclaimer: Dark Angel, not mine.**

* * *

**BRICK**

"Well?" A pair of brilliant green eyes moved from one stiff figure to another. Jade pursed her lips in expectation, but her question was greeted with stony silence from both parties. She sighed heavily. This was going to take a while.

She looked at Max first. Dark gold-brown eyes only stared coldly back at her. Max's full lips pulled from a pout into a thin line, a clear indication that she wasn't going to be the first one to talk. Everything about Max screamed defensiveness: arms crossed tightly over her chest, shoulders stiff and straight, legs crossed, with one foot tapping impatiently against the leg of the coffee table in front of her.

Jade suppressed another long-suffering sigh.

She transferred her gaze towards Alec. His expression was more relaxed, but no more open than Max's was. His hazel-green eyes were carefully blank, his face a mask of tolerant boredom. He was slouched in his chair, both arms on the armrests, fingers tapping a silent song only he could hear. His long legs stretched in front of him and under the coffee table. Everything about him spoke of disinterest.

"How am I supposed to help you if neither of you want to cooperate?"

"Who said we even _needed_ help?" huffed Max, an edge of irritation at her voice. She looked at Jade disdainfully. The red-haired transgenic only returned her gaze levelly, not backing down from the staring contest. Max twisted her full lips into a grimace.

This morning, she and Alec had walked into HQ and were immediately surrounded by Joshua, Mole, Dix, Wolf and Chase. They had not-so-politely requested that she and Alec see Jade. For counseling.

She had balked at first. But then Chase had called it "couple's therapy," and she had agreed just so he would shut up.

"I can't believe I actually showed up to this little session. This is all your fault." She glared at Alec beside her.

Alec grimaced. "My fault?" he scoffed. He pulled himself up a little straighter and took a deep breath. "How is it my fault that we're in couple's therapy?"

"Let's not call this that!" she snapped. "And I'm talking about last night's heist."

Alec rolled his eyes at her. "Oh, so it's _my_ fault that _you_ dropped the package?"

Max narrowed her eyes at him. "I did _not_ drop the package, I had to _release_ the cargo hold because _you_ didn't secure the perimeter!"

"The perimeter was impossible to secure!" Alec sighed. "I may be a genetically engineered piece of awesomeness, but one of me cannot have secured the entire cryogenics lab. But you know, if you had allowed the X6's to come with us, we might have had more manpower to do the job."

"They are not ready!"

"And the other X5's?" he drawled.

"They were all needed here in TC!" snapped Max.

"_And all the other transgenics_?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and bared her teeth.

He grinned at her reaction. "I get it, Maxie," he said, leaning back into his seat. "You have trust issues."

Max couldn't help the small growl that escaped her lips. "_I_ have trust issues?" she bit out. "I'm not the one who's tomcattin' all over TC."

Alec threw her an incredulous look. "What are you talking about?" He threw a pleading look at Jade, "This is not part of this session, right? Tell her this is not a conversation we are having."

Jade sighed heavily at both of them. "Max, Alec is right—"

"See? I'm right." Alec interjected, for which he received a swift kick on the shin from Jade. "Ow!"

"Do not interrupt me while I'm speaking."

Alec pouted. "Aw, c'mon, Jade, I was reinforcing your statement."

"Oh, Alec, just shut up!" Max reached over and slapped him over the side of the head. Then she turned impatient eyes towards Jade and stood up. "Are we done here?"

Jade pursed full pink lips at the two transgenics. "That's enough! Sit down, Max!"

Max fell back into her seat, startled by the tone in her voice.

"Look, both of you are here not just because the last supply run went sideways. You're here because in the last _five_ missions you two have been on, something has gone wrong."

Alec leaned his head against the back of the couch. "Not my fault."

Max frowned, but ignored Alec's automatic comment. Come to think of it, Jade was right. Something had gone sideways on the last few missions. Correction: the last few missions where she and Alec were the point men. She sagged into her seat and bit her lower lip. She couldn't figure out why, though. They were both transgenics, highly-trained, street smart, faster, stronger, and better than any other technology out there. Why would they screw up?

"Because you're also human," whispered Jade, her green eyes shining intently as she peered into Max's dark, troubled eyes.

Alec scoffed audibly. "Thanks for the newsflash, Jade," he bit out sarcastically.

"You're part-human, which makes you susceptible to the human condition."

They both stared blankly at her. She sighed. "You know, like…feelings?"

"What!"

"No!"

Jade cocked an interested eyebrow at the both of them. Max was sitting even straighter, more defensive than before. Alec was now looking away, not meeting her eyes.

"We're actually here to talk about…_feelings_?" Max said, disdain dripping from her tone. "Well, you know what, I _feel_ like this is a waste of time." Then she plastered a falsely bright smile on her face.

Jade threw Max a warning look, "Listen, both of you, the guys requested that you two see me, right? Do you know what I can do?"

Jade literally saw Alec's eyes shutter so that he seemed to be staring intently at something, yet seeing absolutely nothing. "Psy Ops," he murmured coldly, his voice a whisper of ice. His glazed hazel eyes bore into hers. "You were in Psy Ops, 594."

Jade set her jaw tightly. She got this often. She understood that as a Psy Ops operative, all the transgenics would always look at her with cold suspicion. Most of the time, everyone treated her with light camaraderie. But when it really came down to how they felt about her, Jade _knew_ she and her fellow Psy Ops transgenics would always be a smaller class within a class.

"That's right," she confirmed unflinchingly. "Do you know what I specialize in?"

"Asking stupid questions?" drawled Max, her beautiful face also dark and stony.

"Psychometry," continued Jade, ignoring Max. "This means I can figure out what's going on with a single touch."

Max set her lips into a straight line. She remembered Psy Ops. It was her home for almost three months after her recapture; it was where she was reindoctrinated. She remembered the torture. She remembered how they tried to make her forget her identity so that only her designation and the orders of Manticore remained. She had hated Psy Ops and everything it represented: an invasion into her identity. An invasion into her being. Unwelcome. Unwanted. Just plain Evil.

She looked over towards Alec. His handsome face was a stone mask. His profile was tense, his lips pressed so tightly together they were a bloodless white line. He had a tick in his jaw that told her he was grinding his teeth together. "No." he stated coldly.

Jade's flashing green eyes were unsympathetic. "Alec, I understand that you were sent to Psy Ops countless times—"

"Twelve."

"What?"

Icy hazel eyes were turned on Jade. "Don't lie, Jade. You know I was sent there twelve times. Each time worse than the last."

Max gasped. Her experiences with Psy Ops had been the worst. What had kept her alive was the knowledge that they could never take the time she had spent outside of Manticore away from her. She had always believed that Manticore would be destroyed.

What had kept Alec sane all those times?

"Surprised, Maxie?" he drawled coldly. "Didn't think I had what it took?"

Max had never seen Alec look so _awful_. Oh, he was still the handsome super soldier designed by Manticore's finest geneticists, but it wasn't his features that were terrifying. His hazel eyes were completely lifeless. It was like looking into the eyes of a soldier who'd died in battle. Max never noticed how his face was all about the geometric perfection of angles and planes: his cheekbones stood stark as he clenched his teeth, his jaw was straight and strong, completely unyielding. The hard lines of his brow were completely smoothed of expression. His face had lost all the softness of the charming smiles he threw around carelessly. The eyes had lost the twinkle of a joke he always kept to himself. The lips weren't shaped into a smirk. This was not the Alec that Max knew.

This Alec was as hard and unyielding as a brick wall.

It must have taken years for him to build that wall. Each brick laid just right to protect him from the horrors of Psy Ops. Maybe to protect him from everything that Manticore made him do. Maybe to protect the person that he was inside.

Nobody was getting in through that brick wall. Least of all Jade.

Max's expression softened. "That's not what—" Max pursed her lips, knowing that if she tried to even explain what was running through her mind right now, she'd just mess it all up. Maybe they'd end up fighting like they always did.

And then it dawned on Max. They fought because well, they were both brick walls. Neither one of them would ever let the other through. They fought because at some point or another, something became personal…and when it came to personal, no one got in.

Max looked away quickly from Alec, a small lump in her throat.

She knew why things got personal for her. She had known for a while now.

The twinkle in his eye, the soft smirk on his lips, the way he smiled. They were personal to her. The short barks of laughter, the way he grinned in amusement, the small almost-dimple on his cheek. They got to her. Especially when he would accidentally brush his hand against hers, and an instant electrical jolt would run through her system. Or when she would recognize the scent of him anywhere, and could feel the heat from his long lean body as he stood next to her.

He was personal to her. And well, that made her defensive. It made her put up the perimeter walls. It was all too personal. He was too close to breaking down the walls.

And so she fought him. She had to make things less _nice_. Because nice was breaking down her walls. She closed her eyes and counted backwards from ten. She needed to get a grip. The way things were going, her walls were turning into mush. If Jade asked more questions, she would figure out.

Max gritted her teeth and steeled herself. Feelings were weakness. They made it hurt when the people you loved left or died. It made it hurt when you were always the one left behind. So, no…there would be no more talk about feelings.

She took a deep breath and looked at Jade with an inscrutable expression. "I think I'm gonna go. We all know that you wouldn't dare threaten us with Psy Ops tactics. Like you said, Jade, we're human, too. And as a human, it pretty much is my prerogative to walk outta here." With that, she got out of her seat and started to make her way across the room to the door.

She could feel their eyes on her trying to bore through her, as if they could somehow read the answers written on the back of her head.

She turned around and looked directly at Alec. His expression was a flat mask of polite confusion. She was sure hers mirrored the flatness and politeness, too. "I promise to play nice," she stated. "If you do."

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her, but nodded slowly. "Sure."

Max looked at Jade, her head tilted almost arrogantly. "K, problem solved. Happy now?"

But she didn't wait for an answer. She turned on her heel and left the room as quickly as she could, each step of the way slowly rebuilding the walls that had slowly broken down in the small room.

Jade stared after Max's rapidly retreating back for a moment before turning to look at Alec. He was wearing a slight smirk on his face. There was no sign of the angry young soldier on his face at all. "Now you see what I have to put up with?" he grinned. "All that pent-up anger."

Jade stared at him searchingly. Alec blinked, pretending a speck of dust had gotten into his eye. He _hated_ those searching looks, like there was something more he should be saying, some kind of answer tattooed on his head.

"I think we're all angry, Alec," sighed Jade. "The question is, what are we angry about?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "That's real deep, Doc," he drawled sarcastically.

She leaned forward towards him and gave him another one of those damned searching looks. "Are you angry that she won't let you in? Or are you angrier that you don't know how to let her in, too?"

Alec narrowed his eyes in warning. "You have no idea what you're talking about," he scoffed. "I'm sure that if you keep throwing crazy ideas out there, you'll eventually find the right one. I'm just not sticking around for any more of them."

He got up and smiled at her. She stood up, too and took a step towards him.

Then she tripped.

Without thinking he automatically reached over and caught her effortlessly in his arms. Her hand grabbed on to his bicep, as if to steady herself.

Then he froze. He almost dropped her onto the ground. Instead he put her on her feet and pushed her so hard that she fell back against her seat with a thud. "That was a dirty trick, 594," he growled. He was furious, but he knew it was futile. He was sure she had caught a glimpse of that last thought. He had thrown up a wall as fast as he could…but he knew it was too late.

Jade smiled at him. "You know, 494, loving her isn't such a bad thing."

Alec stared at her, his expression both angry and sad at the same time. "Do you remember the last time I loved a girl, Jade? You were there weren't you?"

Jade looked away, suddenly ashamed. "I'm sorry, Alec…I…almost forgot."

"I will never forget. That's why she will _never_ know. Do you understand?"

"Don't worry. I can keep secrets, too."

Alec sighed heavily. "I _need_ her to not know," he said softly, his eyes haunted and scared. He was so still yet his eyes looked like they were watching—reliving a memory. He stopped breathing for a moment.

Jade peered into his face, "Alec, are you all right?"

And just like that a mask slipped onto his handsome face, he breathed in deeply once, then looked at her. A twinkle in his eye, a smirk on his lips, "I'm always alright, Jade," he grinned. Then with a wink, he turned around and walked out the door.


	3. Chapter 3: C is Cold

**DISCLAIMER: Dark Angel has never been mine…and it still ain't.**

**A/N: 3****rd**** installment of the ABC Challenge thing. Hope this makes some sort of sense.**

* * *

**Cold**

Her cheeks were like ice.

The trail of tears ran hot then cold as the brisk air chilled the wetness. The weight in her arms was getting heavier. Getting colder. And yet, she still couldn't let go.

"_I thought I'd lost you,"_

"_Never."_

She had promised him.

* * *

Her breaths came in white puffs in front of her, the mist almost turning into crystalline ice right before her very eyes. The ground was wet, slick, so very cold beneath her bare feet.

But she couldn't stop.

The sounds of the search group were relentless behind her. The spotlights from the helicopters dotted the landscape.

She stayed in the shadows and in the safety and cover of the forest. And she ran.

She ran as fast as her transgenic body would allow.

The landscape was nothing but a blur of white and black around her. Her eyes were focused straight ahead, seeking a clear path for her progress through the woods. She leapt over fallen tree trunks, she crunched through ice and snow, her arms pumped her forward, and all along she swallowed the cold air.

She suddenly heard a snowmobile's roar to her right. It was close. Too close.

In a split second decision, she changed her course. A small boulder blocked her path and she leapt over it effortlessly.

CRACK!

She felt the ground break beneath her, felt the painful scratch of ice tearing and scratching her as she fell through.

And then she felt the cold.

So cold. The dark waters wrapped around her like lead bands. The iciness threatened to squeeze the very warmth from inside of her. The air in her lungs threatened to freeze, threatened to kill her from the inside out.

The cold tendrils of panic filtered through her mind. Every instinct for survival told her to _move_, to get out of the cold, cold water. But she fought her instincts. She fought the pain.

She stayed under water and looked up as ice quickly formed over the hole she had fallen into. With the temperature continuously dropping, it would only take a couple of minutes before a hard pack of ice would cover her. Her nerve endings screamed in pain as ice threatened to freeze the very blood rushing through her veins. Her light blue sleeping gown became a frozen wrap around her body.

But she could hear them above her, the muted sounds of snowmobiles zooming past, the heavy thud of the soldiers' footsteps, the barking of the hounds.

She would rather be cold forever than go back.

Her dark brown eyes watched as the ice thickened, flecks of snow slowly covering the ice. Her last thought was that soon…she would disappear forever.

* * *

They would be here soon, to take him away.

The wind ruffled his light brown hair. Her tears trailed down his perfect face. She had never really thought about it, but he was handsome. Manticore-perfection.

His brow was strong, his cheekbones high and strong. He had a jaw line of perfect angles, softened by a trace of his youth. It would have become more pronounced and stronger as he grew older. And his lips, full and supple. He used to express so much with those lips: a smile, a smirk, a sneer. She had made those lips bleed just yesterday. Today, they were perfect again.

Max would always remember the color of his eyes. They would flash green. Then gold. She would always remember the last look he gave her: a pleading look, begging her. She would also remember the gleam of hate and anger, too. But most of all, she would remember how those hazel eyes used to look at her tenderly. She remembered that the best.

* * *

"Max!" The voice was edged with pure desperation. "Please, Maxie…don't die! _Please_, wake up!" It was hoarse from sheer grief. She had never heard his raspy young voice sound so panicked. She needed to reassure him. She needed to tell him it was okay.

She drifted into consciousness and felt pain. Oh, it _hurt_. Every part of her hurt. Her nerve endings were raw as they thawed from the cold. Warm hands rubbed her up and down waking up her senses. She started to shiver uncontrollably.

"Oh, Maxie!"

Her eyes fluttered open and were instantly met with the glow of green eyes covered with the sheen of unshed tears. His face was dirty, there was a small gash on the side of his head, the short buzz cut of his hair not hiding the matted blood.

The hand that he raised to cup her face was bloodied.

"Ben? A..a…arre…y- y-you…?"

"Shhh….Maxie….don't say a word," whispered Ben, his young face suddenly relieved. He flashed her a smile, so sweet, so relieved. He turned away for a moment, and suddenly a large canvas blanket was thrown over her body.

There was a small fire next to them. It made things so warm, thawing her, easing the pain of her frozen limbs. It made things so bright, so clear.

He continued to rub warmth into her through the rough canvas. She watched him bring her back to life. She frowned when she noticed just how bloody and raw his hands really were. They were swollen to twice their size. She realized that a couple of his fingers and knuckles must have been broken, too.

But he never stopped moving them against her body to keep her alive.

"Ben," she rasped, her throat so painfully dry from the cold. "You're hurt."

"I'm okay, Max," he whispered hoarsely.

"You broke through the ice," she whispered, her tone almost accusing. "You hurt yourself. You punched through the ice."

His golden-green eyes stared intently into hers, blazing with emotion. "I thought I'd lost you."

She shook her head vehemently. "Never," she vowed. She reached her hand to gingerly touch his broken hands. "You will never lose me."

"Do you promise?" his young face was so intent, his eyes blazed with tenderness.

"I promise."

"Good."

"Tell me a story, Ben,"

And he told her a story of a little princess named, Max, and the boy who loved her best.

* * *

He hadn't left her behind for Manticore. Now, she was going to leave him just as the blades of the Manticore choppers whipped the cold air around them to a frenzy and the familiar sounds of the search parties hunting them down were closing in.

She took his cold hand in hers. He had saved her with these hands. She had killed him with her own.

She had promised him he would never lose her.

But along the way, she had lost him instead.

"I'm so sorry, Ben," With a final soft kiss on his forehead, she laid him down on the cold ground. Then she stood up and took a deep breath of the chilly air. And just as she did so many years ago, she ran away.

The air was cold as she blurred through the forest, but that didn't matter, because Max knew that inside, she would be cold forever.

**THE END.**


	4. Chapter 4: D is Daughter

**DISCLAIMER: Dark Angel is not mine. Even after all these years…**

**A/N: Wow, this was kind of hard to write. I was supremely stumped for this prompt. I hope it just gets easier from here. Haha, though I seriously doubt it considering my muse has been wishy-washy about DA lately. I hope you still enjoy it though.**

* * *

**DAUGHTER**

Alec walked round the corner just in time to see Max drop Sketchy from a chokehold in the back wall of Jam Pony. "If I _ever_ hear about you so much as stickin' your pinky toe into Steelhead territory again, I'mma hand them to you myself. Do you understand?"

Sketchy nodded hastily, just glad to be able to breathe again.

"Say, 'I understand, Max.'" she intoned, her voice deceptively sweet.

"Yes, I understand, Max!"

Max glared at him, her dark eyes flashing angrily. "Idiot," she muttered, before shoving Sketchy against the wall one more time for good measure.

He grunted as he hit the brick wall with surprising force. "Uh, thanks again for, uh…saving me," he muttered lamely. Max bared her teeth at him into something that wasn't quite a smile before stalking off.

Alec hastily sidestepped Max but not before she placed a hand on his chest and pushed, "Get outta my way, Alec," she growled. He fell back against the lockers with a loud bang, his arms raised in mock surrender.

Two pairs of incredulous eyes watched as Max stormed out of Jam Pony. Alec turned towards Sketchy, "Might I ask why she's Little Miss Sunshine today?" he drawled, raising an eyebrow at his bewildered friend.

Sketchy just shrugged, pulling his leatherette vest back into place and then adjusting the collar of his shirt. "I mean, I paged her, right. Some Steelhead's accusing me of stealing a package, and well, from past experience, Max always has my back. I mean the girl can talk her way out of anything. It's cuz she's so hot, y'know?"

"Riiiight," Of course it was the _hot_ factor and nothing to do with the transgenic factor at all. Alec grinned slightly.

"Well, then she comes around, tells me she's gonna 'handle this' and tells me to get back to Jam Pony. She gets back and well…you saw what happened," he shrugged, still slightly dazed. "Does she…y'know…_work out_?"

Alec rolled his eyes. Leave it to Max to throw Sketchy around in Jam Pony and then yell at _him_ for using his Manticore gifts to scam some cash out of the poor sucker at pool. "It's probably just in her genes," he muttered. "Bet she's part gorilla or something."

Sketchy just stared at him, confused.

Alec smiled widely at his friend, "I'm kidding," he deadpanned. "I'm sure it was just adrenaline. She _was_ pretty pissed at you."

Sketchy laughed uncomfortably, "Yeah, yeah, adrenaline."

* * *

Alec caught up with her later in her apartment.

"Get out!" she seethed, throwing a pot at him. He ducked easily and the pot hit the wall behind him with a loud clang. Granted he did just walk into her bathroom unannounced while she soaked in a tub filled with bubbles that smelled distinctly like—he sniffed—lavender.

His lips quirked, "Lavender is supposed to have a calming effect," he quipped, leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms as he looked nonchalantly at her. She was ensconced in a tub filled with bubbles, her dark hair pinned up high, with tendrils gently curling around her face from the steam. There were candles flickering all over the room, giving it a gentle deceptively relaxed golden glow. The picture-perfect scene was marred by the dozens of pots that littered the floor near the tub, presumably having been used to transport hot water into the tub.

She glared at him while gathering bubbles closer to her. "I _was_ calm until you came in and ruined the Zen," she bit out. "What are you _still_ doing here?"

"We need to talk."

"Can't you see that _now_ is a little inconvenient," she glared at him, her face twisted in a dark frown.

Alec wasn't fazed. "I'm not inconvenienced," he smiled, knowing full well that he was risking his very life by continuing to stand at the door.

Max's jaw dropped in indignation then she reached over to grab another pot and aimed it at Alec. "You're sick!" she cried, then threw the pot straight at him.

With transgenic speed, Alec blurred out of the way and closed the door just in time for the pot to clang loudly behind him. He chuckled loudly. "Better hurry before you turn into a prude…ah, I mean, _prune_," he called as he walked away from the bathroom door.

Within minutes she was outside, tying a bathrobe tightly around her narrow waist. "What?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Pink," he smirked. "Who would've thought you'd be prancing around in a pink robe?"

She snarled in impatience, "Alec…" she warned, her frown turning darker, her full lips pursed.

"Right," He scratched the back of his neck where his barcode ought to have been. The lasers sometimes irritated his skin. "Dix thinks that he may have located a Familiar enclave."

"And I care because?"

Alec frowned. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because they think you're Lady Jesus Messiah of all Mankind, The Chosen One, The Ruiner of All Snakey Plans…or wait, yeah, that's right…they also want all of us exterminated, that's why." He deadpanned. "What is with you, lately?"

Max rolled her eyes at him ignoring the question, before turning away to walk into her room. "Fine. I'll go. Whatever."

* * *

"Max!" Alec's voice was coarse with the need to get to her. "Stop it!" he cried. "Stop it right now!" He wrapped his arms around her, restraining her. He felt all of her strength straining against him. It felt like his arms were going to be ripped right off their sockets she was fighting so hard against him.

He had his arms wrapped tightly around her, while she kneeled on the floor. A Familiar laid unconscious, bleeding, beaten to a bloody pulp next to them.

Max's hands were bloodied too. Swollen from having delivered so many blows.

She had continued to batter the Familiar long after he had already fallen at her feet. She would have killed him if Alec hadn't stopped her.

"Max, please stop," he whispered, his voice soft and low in her ear.

It was the gentleness in his tone that finally reached her. The red haze that had filled her mind with rage faded and she felt spent. She sagged into his arms and she could literally feel the relief flow out of his body as he relaxed his grip on her.

But he continued to hold her, as if he understood that if he let go now, she would crumple to the ground. The feel of his arms around her, the solid length of him down her back just somehow broke the dam.

She felt a rush of emotion hit her like a wave until a sob broke out of her.

"Shhh…" he whispered, adjusting his hold on her until he managed to turn her enough that face rested on the crook of his neck. "What's the matter, Maxie?"

She stiffened in his embrace, as if realizing for the first time everything that had just happened. She had let her rage get the better of her. She had almost killed the Familiar at her feet. She hadn't been able to stop.

She would have made _him_ proud.

With a quick twist, she was out of Alec's arms. She pushed him away from her as she got up. "Leave me alone," she snapped as she briskly wiped the tears away on the sleeve of her arm.

Alec looked incredulous at first, then his expression turned hard. He leapt to his feet and faced her. They circled each other for a moment.

Then without a warning, Max spun around to run away. But Alec had expected it. He was faster. He grabbed her arm, twisted it behind her back and slammed her against the nearest wall.

"We. Need. To. Talk." He growled.

Max let the pain from her twisted arm wash over and out of her. "There's nothing to talk about," she seethed.

"No?" he drawled icily. "Not that you're not normally a bitch or anything, but dammit, Max, the way you've been acting lately…the bullying, the rage, being out of control, the downright meanness, what is _that_ all about?"

Her lips twisted into an ugly grin. "What if that's just the way I am, huh?"

"What? PMS on steroids? Because that really should come with a warning label."

"You're bent," she growled. "Get off of me!"

"Fine." He released her suddenly, stepping away from her cautiously.

She turned around and eyed him cautiously. "Get out of my way."

"No."

Her jaw set, her eyes focused, Max adjusted her stance, ready for a fight. "I said, get out of my way."

Alec instinctively reacted to her aggressive stance. He felt his muscles tighten, a rush of electric adrenaline and anticipation pumped through him. He clenched his jaw and shifted his weight towards the balls of his feet, he allowed himself to look deceptively relaxed. "Listen to yourself, Maxie," he drawled mockingly. "'Get off me!' 'Get out of my way!' 'Do this!' 'Do that!'…Bossy much?"

She bared her teeth menacingly at him. "You don't even understand."

He shrugged. "So make me."

"It's none of your business."

He gave her a hard look. "I don't know, Max, when you start becoming a liability to the mission, it _becomes_ my problem. Trust me, I'd rather not care. But my pretty ass is on the line here, too."

Max pursed her lips disdainfully. "Figures you're all about the Mission," she said. "He really got to you didn't he?"

"Who?" he frowned in confusion.

"Lydecker. Manticore."

Alec could feel the anger roll over him in waves just at the two names. "No one _got_ to me," he muttered through clenched teeth.

"No?" mocked Max. "Mission. Duty. Manticore. Isn't that what you live by? Isn't that what _he_ taught us? That it was always the Mission that came first? That we were _expendable_?"

Alec stood quietly studying her. She was shaking slightly. Her eyes were glazed with an almost maniacal glow.

"I mean how could he do that to his own _daughter_?"

Alec frowned slightly. "What are you talking about?"

A stricken, defeated look entered Max's eyes and he could see her sag slightly into herself. "I just found out that Lydecker's my father," she spat out.

Alec blinked several times in rapid succession. "Wha—uh, we were made in test tubes from anonymous donors. How is that possible?"

Max rolled her eyes at him. "Apparently, good 'ol 'Deck was nice enough to sprinkle some of his…specimen into the candidate pool."

_You even have her eyes_.

Max shivered as she recalled Lydecker's voice in her head the night he told her that he had specifically designed for her to have his wife's eyes. "I'm his daughter," she murmured.

Alec stared at her, his face puzzled. "So?"

Max looked incredulously at him. "What do you mean, 'so'?" she cried. "My _father_ is a _murderer_. He was a cold-blooded, calculating man who tortured children! Someone I spent my whole life running away from."

"So Lydecker was your dad. So he was a bastard. How does it change anything now?" he asked quietly.

Max sagged against the wall behind her as she looked up at him with disillusioned eyes. "We spend our whole lives wishing we had parents…only I find out I'm the daughter of my own worst enemy."

"Perfect. You're the Savior of the Human Race and the Devil's Spawn all at once," drawled Alec drily, cocking his eyebrow at her. "Congratulations."

"You are such an ass!" she growled. "I don't know why I even bother!" She pushed off from the wall and tried to shove past him. But a hand wrapped tightly around her wrist like a steel band. He pulled her up against him so that she was face-to-face with him.

Alec's face was cold. His hazel-green eyes were flat and almost unseeing. His lips were taut. "I know what it's like to wonder who you really are, to wonder what you might be capable of…all because someone who shared the same DNA as you made you question who you are."

It took Max a moment to register exactly what he was talking about. "Ben…" she whispered, her voice a broken thread.

"Right." He said stonily. "So Lydecker is your dad, blah, blah, woof, woof. Do you think it's any easier being made of exactly the same stuff as someone who is…oh, I don't know…_cracked_ in the head?"

Somehow, somewhere along the line, she had stopped seeing Ben's face in Alec. But right now, when she looked at him, she remembered. They shared the same eyes, the same perfect face, the soft light brown hair, the chiseled mocking lips. They were identical. They were _the same_.

But they weren't.

"You're nothing like Ben," she whispered, her voice low but filled with steely conviction. "I see you, Alec. Only you."

Max could feel some of the tension that eased out of his body. He slowly lowered his head towards her, and for a moment, there was a flare of hopeful panic in her chest. But he only leaned in to whisper in her ear. "You're nothing like Lydecker. You're who you are, Max."

He stepped back and reached over to push a strand of hair away from her face. It was the most intimate gesture Alec had ever done. She felt a small shiver run down her spine. "And even if you are," he continued, "I'm sure he gave you the best of him and none of the worst."

Max scoffed slightly. "Next think I know, you'll be telling me I'm a unique creature unlike any other, right?"

Alec chuckled. "Hey, if it makes you feel better."

Max reached over and punched him lightly, playfully on his chest. "You're a pain in the ass."

"Always at your service," He grinned at her, and Max couldn't help but think he looked exactly like Ben. But then he winked at her and the twinkle in his eye was only ever Alec.

Max shook her head, "Whatever. Let's get outta here." She turned away and started for the door.

"I'll be right behind you," he called after her. He turned to look at the damage she had done, the signs of cruelty left on the fallen Familiars, and the smile faded from his face. Because what he didn't tell her was, sometimes he still wondered if he was exactly like Ben anyway. If he was meant to turn out exactly the same anyway. He didn't tell her that sometimes, he didn't think they would ever escape the dark pieces of themselves that made up the whole of who they were.

He didn't tell her, because he needed to believe that it wasn't true either.

END.


	5. Chapter 5: E is Enough

**Disclaimer: Dark Angel was only ever mine in my dreams.**

**A/N: I actually had this idea long before I could figure out "D". So, as soon as I spit D out…E just flowed real easy. Thank God, right? Or maybe, just maybe, I'm not in the mood to study for finals and Income Tax Law. Gah.**

* * *

**ENOUGH**

Alec wanted to say No. Absolutely not. No way in all of hell.

But of course, he couldn't.

He could only stand here in front of her and wish that things weren't the way they were.

He reached over and cupped her chin between thumb and forefinger. He forced her face up to his, forced her to look into his eyes. He wanted her to see the anguish in his eyes, the sadness etched in every line of his face. Her dark brown eyes were heavy with shadows. Tears shimmered in their depths spilling over and down the perfect curve of her cheek. His anguish was mirrored in her. His sadness traced identical lines over her own features.

If only he hadn't been too late in realizing. If only he had told her sooner.

_I love you._ Seemed so simple now.

He gently held her face with both his hands, his thumbs slowly wiping the trail of tears away from her face.

She was shaking. Fine tremors ran through her body. He felt each one, she was standing so close to him.

"Please, Alec," she whispered, her voice tinged with desperation and a soul-hurt sadness that pierced straight through him. How could he say no? How could he be the one to hold her back?

"Please let me go," she begged again. How could he not?

Because he _couldn't_. That's why.

He leaned his forehead against hers. "I can't, Max," he gasped. He never expected it to hurt this much. He never suspected he _loved_ her this much.

Her hands crept up his chest, crumpling his shirt in her fist. He reached over and pulled her hand and splayed it over his heart. It was beating erratically, thundering…breaking.

"I already said yes," she said in an aching whisper. "I already said _yes._" And with those words, she reached up and pulled his lips to hers.

Her lips were soft, his heart was exploding. He pulled her flush against him, feeling her heat, shaping her into him. He would have to remember this moment. He would have to remember the way she fit into his arms. It would have to last him forever.

And so he kissed her with every fiber of his being. Pouring his soul into it, wishing he could take her with him. He bit her lower lip and she moaned softly, a sound of desire and regret. He groaned and devoured her lips again, crushing them against his with near-desperation.

He wanted to say, _stay_. He wanted to pull her into his arms and whisk her away. He wanted to her to be _his_. He just wanted a chance.

Finally, she pulled away. She was still crying as she laid her fingertips in a feather-light caress over his lips. "Enough," she murmured. "This has to be enough."

And with those words, she spun around and disappeared into the darkness.

Alec stood there, missing her warmth, his lips still burning from her kiss, his body thrumming with ache. He was afraid that if he tried to move, if he tried to run after her, he would just break.

He never would have guessed that anything could _hurt_ this much. Nothing in PsyOps had ever prepared him for this kind of agony. The pain was inside, but he could feel it in his fingertips still throbbing from having her in his arms and then losing her. Just like that.

_Enough? _How could it ever be enough?

But he knew the answer. She had whispered it to him. _It __**has**__ to be enough._

He took a haggard breath. He fought the sob that tried to break through him. He focused on the red of his pain, his body shaking with a mix of rage and hurt. He roared out and punched the wall beside him. His hand broke through the wood and plaster easily. The physical pain was welcome. It dulled the ache inside of him for a moment. It made him feel alive if only to feel this pain. He slowly pulled his fist out and lifted it up to his face, looking at the scratches. Blood trickled down his arm.

Enough. He knew it had to be enough.

He took a deep breath and willed his broken heart into ice. He straightened his spine and imagined that he could gather all the hurt from every inch of his body and force it into a tiny box inside his heart. He gritted his teeth. Then he forced one foot in front of the other. He walked through the door she had disappeared through. He walked through the throngs of silent, solemn Transgenics. He walked to stand in the frontlines.

Someone, probably Mole, tried to hand him a weapon, but he shook his head simply.

It would not be necessary. Tonight, they wouldn't need it. After tonight, he hoped that they would never have to.

He watched with cold detachment as Max was handed over towards Clemente. She had said yes. Of course she had gone and done the stupidest, craziest, _bravest_ thing she could. _Of course_.

She had sold her freedom and her life to Clemente and the Joint Nations—an organization of 25 of the most powerful countries in the world, allied against the Familiars and their plan to bring about humanity's extinction.

All in exchange for the protection of all Transgenics against White and his Familiars. Against the New Manticore. Against anything and everything that would hurt her people.

She was the Key after all. The answer was hidden in her DNA. There was no doubt that they would study her, cut her up, use her until they found a way to stop the Familiars. He had no doubt that he would never see her again. He had no doubt that she knew this was probably how she was going to die.

She walked with her head tilted at a cocky angle, her chin up, a disdainful smirk on her face. Her hands were cuffed behind her back, and one of Clemente's men tried to push her forward. She stopped in her tracks and turned to glare at him until he backed away, her face blazing with feral beauty.

_That's my girl_. He thought sadly to himself.

At that exact moment she lifted her eyes to look at him, and the mask of courage slipped slightly and he saw just how terrified she was, just how big the sacrifice was. And he saw just how much she loved him, too.

She ducked inside into an armored vehicle, the door shut and the three discreet cars drove away.

She was gone. Just like that.

Alec closed his eyes letting himself wallow in the memory of her in his arms, the taste of her lips on his. He let the pain wash over him for that moment. Then he opened his eyes and they were ice cold again. She was right: it has to be enough.

"All right, people, we have work to do!"

_Enough_.

* * *

THE END.


	6. Chapter 6: F is Frosting

A/N: "Frosting" was too hard to write, but I hope this is a fun and funny read at the very least.

**Summary: Max is having a very bad night.

* * *

**

**FROSTING**

Max stood at the top of the Space Needle and breathed in the fresh air and smiled. It was exactly midnight.

It was a new day. A new year. A new—her beeper went off breaking her train of thought, and Max frowned. She grabbed the sling of her backpack where her pager was conveniently attached to and glanced at the glowing green numbers that flashed through the screen.

She smiled as she recognized the ten digits on the screen.

Within minutes she was punching in the numbers on a payphone just below the Space Needle.

"Yo, me hittin' you back."

"Thank God, Max," sighed Original Cindy, obvious relief in her voice.

Max frowned. "What is it? Everything gravy?"

There was a slight pause fit enough for two heartbeats before Cindy replied. "Aiight, here's the dealio: there's this lickity-boo, see, and she is foine as all of God's creatures, with legs up to here and eyes like moonshine. But then there's this dawg, and boy is he a d-o-double-g-dawg, and he's showin' off for this lickity-boo, only she's mine. I mean, he's putting the touch on _my _boo and I'm 'bout to put on the shake down and slap him for the little bi—"

"Uh, Cindy…why'd you hit _me_ up?" asked Max, impatiently tapping the phone booth with her black riding gloves.

"Er…well, Boo, there's this package, aiight, and it's s'posed to be in the hands of some foo in Sector Eight…only, I never got to bring it and I can't leave my lickity-boo now—"

"…so you were hoping that I could pick it up from Jam Pony and bring the package back home to its waiting mommy in Sector Eight?" drawled Max with a roll of her eyes. "Girl, you lucky I got your back."

"You my boo!"

"All right," she sighed. "Consider it done. But you owe me a pitcher."

But Max was pretty sure OC missed that last part considering the way she heard the other girl screech at the top of her lungs at some poor boy before leaving her to a lonely dial tone. With a grimace, she hung up the telephone. At least picking up a package from Jam Pony and making a quick delivery wasn't going to take up the rest of her night.

* * *

Max parked her baby a block away from Jam Pony. It was closed by now, which meant that she'd have to break into the one place she actually tried to spend as little of her time as possible. She rolled her eyes at the irony.

She came around the side of the building and eyed the fire escape. The ladder ended between the second floor and the roof of the building. With a quick glance of the area to check for hover drones, Max leapt the sixteen feet to reach the ladder. Her fingers grabbed the bottom rung and she swung herself up onto the landing with a loud clang.

She crouched and allowed everything to settle before she moved again. She was glad that Normal always left one window up in the top cracked open for "airflow". She pulled the window open and slipped inside.

Easy peasy.

Once inside, Max rummaged through the packages that were meant for OC to deliver that day. She found the only box that was marked Sector Eight on it, and she smiled, pleased at her own work.

Piece of cake.

Suddenly, she felt a prickling in the back of her neck. If Spiderman had his Spidey sense thing, Max had that prickling-in-the-back-of-her-neck-as-a-sign-that-something-was-wrong thing. She peeked from behind Normal's counter and saw beams of lights moving around just outside of Jam Pony. Then she heard the lock being broken and the door was kicked in.

Max ducked under the counter and cursed quietly to herself. So much for a piece of cake. This was a good reminder that some people choke on cake.

She heard footsteps—she counted five—filing in quickly into Jam Pony. Their flashlights scanned the room. He heard them whispering about ripping open the packages and stealing their contents. Two sets of footsteps went upstairs. Two other sets headed for the locker area. Which left one person to walk into the caged package area which was Normal's office.

Max knew that she could probably kick this guy's ass and sneak away before the other four got wise.

She _could_.

She grimaced knowing full well that she _couldn't_. It wasn't like she cared about Normal or anything. It wasn't like she was saving Jam Pony for _him_. Nope. She was saving her job, that's what it was.

She popped up from behind the desk and gave the guy a brilliant smile. He turned and pointed a gun at her. Max quickly disarmed him by jumping over the counter and kicking it away and knocking him down in one single movement. She hovered over him and smiled cattily, "You got a nice package," she grinned, before punching him hard enough to knock him out.

She heard two sets of footsteps running back from the locker area and she rolled away quickly. She grabbed a bike wheel and threw it Frisbee style at one of the guys, "Heads up! Special delivery!" she called with a little laugh, just as it hit the guy in the head, knocking him over.

The other guy stood frozen in shock.

"That better _not_ be _my_ cherry chapstick in your hands, you creep!" she growled before throwing a spinning hook kick at him. "I mean, what kind of guy steals chapstick? That's just bent." she muttered under her breath.

"What's going on down there?"

Max stood in front of the staircase and placed her hands on her hips saucily, "We're cookin' curry," she drawled.

He just stood there in shock and Max threw her hands in the air, "Are you just gonna stand there all day and make me wait or what?"

But before the other guy could reply, the other one tripped on the stairs behind him and they both fell at her feet, unconscious. "Two million years of human evolution and this is what we get: you morons."

It didn't take long for her to tie them up. She placed a giant bow on them. "Just like a birthday present," she murmured.

* * *

She was finally basking in the warmth of her bath. A well-deserved bath, if she did say so herself. She closed her eyes and prepared to let the relaxing warm waters take her to happy dreamland.

Suddenly, the phone rang, jarring her awake. She grabbed the phone which she had placed next to her bath tub. "This better be global."

"Max, I got a lead on the Turrow case," said Logan, without preamble.

"Mm-hmm."

"I need you to help me get those papers—where are you?"

"I was in heaven, but you're bringing me back down to earth with this whole urgent tone thing."

"Max, this is important."

"Yeah, so is me enjoyin' my bath."

"Max, this is really urgent. Young girls' lives are on the line here."

Max sighed heavily into the phone. "Logan, relax. I'll get it done." She hung up on the phone and all but threw it away. Then she slipped underneath the warm, scented water. Sometimes, she wished she could just catch a break. But given the givens, she knew that in the greater scheme of things, those little girls really did need some saving.

She got out of the bath and got ready to go out and save the world.

* * *

"The lead turned out to be a bust," said Logan, wheeling around to face her in his wheelchair.

Max threw a thick envelope of files onto Logan's desk. "What?" she scowled. "Are you telling me that I spent two hours hanging upside down outside the sector police to grab these files for _nothing_!"

"Well, not _nothing_ per se…"

"Ugh!" she seethed. "You know, next time you send me on a half-assed scheme to save the world, maybe you should double check your sources first!"

"Look, Max—"

"Don't 'look, Max,' me," she growled. "I had better things to do than get a crick in my neck and almost dislocating my shoulder tonight. Not to mention this massive headache I'm now feeling from hanging upside down for that long."

Logan looked appropriately contrite, and Max crossed her arms across her chest expectantly.

"Well?"

"What?"

Max threw her hands up in the air. "Never mind. Forget it. Whatever!" she growled before she stormed out of the penthouse.

And to think all she had wanted was two little words from him.

* * *

She flew down the streets of Seattle, letting the lights blur past her. If there was one thing that could make her feel better, it was this feeling of freedom.

She felt a smile tugging at her lips as the wind blew through her hair.

Suddenly an unexpected roadblock forced her to a literal screeching halt. Nothing could wipe the smile off her face faster than that. She rolled her eyes in annoyance before flipping her glasses up over her hair. "What can I do you for, Officer?" she smiled her sultriest smile.

"Sector checkpoint." He replied gruffly, not looking her directly in the eye.

Max looked around briefly and frowned. "There aren't supposed to be checkpoints around here."

"This one's special."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, so you're gonna have to get off this bike and pick it up from the pound tomorrow."

"What?" she cried. "C'mon, Officer, how's a girl gonna get home at this time of night?"

"You wanna get home, you figure it out."

Max briefly entertained the idea of kicking ass right there. Briefly. Because she knew that where there were sector checkpoints there were hover drones and there were cameras.

While it would feel nice for a moment, she'd regret it later.

With a groan she relinquished her beloved motorcycle to the Sector Police.

She watched carefully as one of them added her beloved Ninja onto a list. "Motorcycle," he murmured.

She frowned heavily at him. "That's a Ninja 650 for you. Black. Like my mood, thanks to you."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved her off as he walked away with his clipboard and his partner rolled her baby away.

Max frowned. Tonight was definitely not her night, which was ironic because it really _should_ have been her night.

* * *

It took an hour for her to get across town with some strategic blurring and some sly hitch hiking. One long miserable hour.

She trudged up the stairs to her apartment slowly. It had been a long, long, miserable night.

She opened the door to her apartment and stopped. That tingly sense was back. She almost groaned out loud. It would just be icing on the cake if someone had also broken into her apartment tonight too.

She pushed the door open as quietly as she could and crept inside, picking the specific spots on the floor that she knew from long experience that did not creak. She came around the corner and stopped short.

She couldn't help it.

Her face crumbled and she actually felt tears suddenly blurring her vision. Icing on the cake, indeed.

Right there on the table was a single cupcake with an unlit candle planted in the center and a card that said, "Happy Birthday" in bright red letters propped up next to it.

Sprawled on the couch was a sleeping Alec.

She crept slowly forwarded and picked up the cupcake. She plucked off the candle and started nibbling on the frosting. She licked her lips in delighted surprise. It was the real thing. In this economy, Alec somehow managed to get her real frosting.

She felt a warmth start to spread from the vicinity of her heart as she looked at his sleeping face. Maybe today wasn't going to be such a bad day after all.

"Happy Birthday to me," she whispered as she settled onto the couch next to Alec.

She pretended not to notice how he seemed to huddle closer to her. It was her birthday, he remembered, she had a cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Nothing could ruin the day now.

"Happy Birthday, Maxie," he murmured sleepily, and she allowed him to pull her into a haphazard, sleepy hug on the couch.

Things could only get better from there.

* * *

END.


	7. Chapter 7: G is Girl

**A/N: Fluff. That's all that this really is. Girl is such a fluffy word. It's slightly OOC and AU, but that's really the only way to get fluffy MA. I really wish I had my writing mojo back, but I really couldn't think of what to do with "girl"…and then I heard that Jesse's Girl song…and so it started off as something like that…and then it just morphed to whatever this little plot is. I hope you enjoy it anyway.**

**Disclaimer: Dark Angel isn't mine.

* * *

**

Girl

Every person has a turning point in his life. It is a moment that is so sharp, so clear, so _real_ that one cannot deny the truth of it. It simply changes one's life. Permanently.

For Alec, it was the moment that he realized he was deeply, irrevocably, and utterly in love with Max. The realization shook him to his very core that it was a wonder he was still standing. Granted, when he had looked, he had actually ended up leaning against the wall.

Unfortunately, the realization came at the worst possible moment: When Max and Logan announced that they had found The Cure.

It was in that moment when Alec knew he had lost everything that he never even knew he had wanted. And as such, he fell in love with a woman, who was at that exact moment, kissing another man.

Life was ironic like that—or so he liked to think, when he was in a good mood. Most days, though, his mood wasn't so good. And he used an entirely different word than "ironic" to describe this particular aspect of his life.

He hid it well.

In the forty days since the great announcement, Alec had been every inch the good friend of the Couple of the Decade. He ran heists with her, tossed back beers with the gang, laughed, and was a smart aleck in every way possible.

He continued to seduce and be seduced by other women. He kissed them and acted like the complete tom cat she had always accused him of being.

What she didn't know was that when he closed his eyes at night, all he saw were her deep brown eyes. Or that when he saw a dark haired girl from afar, his heart always—_always_—skipped a beat, even when he knew that it wasn't her. She didn't know that he could recognize her scent, or the sound of her footsteps. She didn't know that he would know her anywhere, anytime, anyway.

Alec sighed loudly into his drink.

"What was that, Alec?" asked Logan, peering at him from over the computer screen.

"Huh?"

"Did you say something?"

"Oh, no…just…sitting here, quietly drinking my scotch. You know me." He replied drily, raising his glass in a mock toast.

"Scotch on the rocks tonight," mused Max, walking into the room saucily. "Something's bothering him."

Alec felt every inch of his body tingle as his nerve endings responded to the onslaught of being in her presence. He gritted his teeth and smiled tightly at her. He felt a small lump in his throat as he watched her slowly make her way over towards Logan, and perched lightly on the arm of his chair.

He looked away as they stared into each other's eyes.

If only.

But how could he compete when she was looking at him with those eyes? Intertwining her fingers with his like they were meant to be forged together? And oh, God, when she _kissed_ him with those lips?

"Well, seeing as you guys are googly-eyeing each other, I'm off," he declared loudly, standing and draining the rest of the scotch. He felt the burn run through his system, momentarily paralyzing the agonizing pain he felt every time he was around these two.

"Oh, before you go," Logan tossed a packet at Alec and he caught it effortlessly. "Those are the coordinates and other documents you need for the next EO mission."

"Sure." Alec sighed inwardly. He knew it was futile. He went on EO missions because it was the only time he had alone with Max. But in order to go to EO missions, he also had to spend a whole heck of a lot of time with the two of them together.

"G'night, guys," he called out. But he knew there were too busy wrapped up in each other's world to really notice.

Alec strode out into the night and breathed in the cold winter air. More than once he wondered why he couldn't just have fallen in love with another girl. _Any_ other girl.

He told himself one more time, like he did every night, that he really wasn't the kind of jerk who stole another guy's girl. Really.

He hopped onto his bike and with one last look up at the Penthouse, he sped away.

* * *

"So, whatchu up to?"

Alec gave Max a sideways glance and turned his attention back to—well, he hadn't really been doing anything but staring at the TV without comprehension. So, he shrugged and nodded towards the TV.

She threw her leather jacket over the back of the couch next to his head, then she pulled up a chair, turned it backwards and straddled it. "What are you watching?"

He frowned at her. "Don't you have anything better to do than, I don't know, _be_ here?"

She shrugged, took the beer right from his hands and took a swig.

He hated this. No, he loved this. No, no, no. He _hated_ this. He hated how she acted so familiar and comfortable around him. Like she had every right to share his space, to take his drink, and to be around him for no reason at all. He hated it because it was all so close within his reach.

If he leaned the other way, his shoulder would touch her arm. If he turned his head towards her, he could very simply brush his lips across her bare shoulder. If he leaned up a little higher, he could bury his face in the nook of her neck and inhale her scent. Hell, with very little effort, he could pick her right off that chair and cradle her in his arms on the couch.

If.

That was the problem. It was all so close within his reach, but he couldn't reach out for it.

He could never lean over, never touch his lips to her skin, nuzzle her neck, and hold her in his arms. Never.

Her phone rang, thankfully interrupting his train of thoughts.

"Hey,Logan," she whispered into the phone.

He grimaced at her. "Take that outside, will ya?"

She rolled her eyes at him, but obliged, leaving the room and _walking into his bedroom_. Alec gritted his teeth. Was nothing sacred anymore? Even his bedroom was going to be witness to Max and Logan. How was he ever going to go back in there and pretend that the coupledom did not exist?

"I said 'out', Max," he growled.

He heard her huff and say, "You know what, I gotta go," and hang up the phone. She came out of his bedroom, eyes ablaze, full lips turned down. "What is _wrong_ with you these days?" she demanded, standing in front of him and crossing her arms.

What was _wrong_ with him? Alec almost laughed out loud. What was _wrong_ with him was that he was desperately in love with this girl standing in front of him. He was insane with desire for the one girl he couldn't have. What was _wrong_ was that he wanted to tell her that he was the one for her. What was _wrong_ was that the one girl who was right for him in every way was in love with someone else.

That was what was wrong.

But of course he didn't say any of that. Instead, he gave her an indolent smile, well-practiced and heavily used in the past few days, and said, "I'm watching TV and you're in the way."

He could have sworn he heard her growl. His lips twitched as it fought a smile. He loved the little noises she made when she was frustrated or happy or content or angry. But he fought the smile because she couldn't possibly know that.

"Liar," she muttered mutinously. "You weren't even watching TV this whole time."

His shock almost registered on his face. If it hadn't been for years of training of keeping his emotions in check, he might have gaped at her. He thought he had done an excellent job of pretending to be completely preoccupied. "You don't know that."

She shrugged. "Your eyes glaze over, your jaw was tight, and you were blinking too evenly, like you were counting between each blink. C'mon, Alec, you can't con the pro." She replied smugly.

He smirked at her. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"I guess it means that I know you."

There it was again. That little pang in his heart that screamed that she was The One. He ignored it and grimaced at her.

"Well?" she demanded. "What's wrong? What's going on? You've been acting all bent lately."

"What are you talking about?"

She shrugged and dropped onto the couch next to him. "You tell me, Alec," she murmured. "For the first time in a while, I actually think we're friends. Then all of a sudden, you do a three-sixty, and it's like you can't stand to be around me anymore. You leave whenever I'm around. You make these inside jokes that I'm not a part of. When we hang out with everyone, you barely ever look at me or talk to me. Hell, you even lie about watching TV just to pretend I don't exist…I mean, what did I do?"

Alec's heart ached. It hurt to see that he was hurting her. But what could he say? It wasn't that he couldn't stand to be around her anymore. It was because when he was around her, all he wanted to do was reach out and touch her. He didn't mean to exclude her, just that he desperately needed parts of his life that didn't include her…simply because she could never completely be part of his life. And he couldn't look at her all the time because he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to look away, or that his eyes would betray everything that he felt.

He cleared his throat and sat straighter on the couch. "It's really not you, Maxie…it's me."

"Oh god, I get _that_ speech? What are we—breaking up?"

He smiled bitterly at that. "To do that, we'd have to be together," he drawled. He turned to give her a sideways look.

She chuckled. "Riiight. Like that's ever going to happen."

_Ouch._

Alec leaned back against the couch and laid his head against the back. "Fine. Think whatever you want, Max. You're a horrible person. I don't want to be around you anymore. You're a bad influence and you make me do bad things. Is _that_ better?"

"No. It's still not the truth."

He didn't think either one of them could handle the truth. The truth was that he loved her. Fact. If she found out the truth, she would never talk to him again. Fact. If he told her the truth, he was going to get hurt. Fact. The truth would completely ruin whatever they had together. Fact. Whatever they had together was all he would ever get of her. Fact.

No, the truth wasn't the way to go.

"I know," she declared as if she had discovered the greatest secret in the universe. "I'm cramping your style. Is that it?"

Hell yeah, she was cramping his style. He must have nodded emphatically on the heels of that enthusiastic thought because she was suddenly peering into his face intently. There was a single frown line on her forehead. He wanted to reach over and trace it delicately with a fingertip and smooth it out.

"Is there someone else?" she whispered.

He groaned inwardly. Someone _else_? When had she ever been his that there would have been a chance of _someone else_? And, for that matter, _if_ she had been with him, there would never even be a 'someone else'.

But Max took in his pained, almost embarrassed expression, as an affirmative answer. She had a strangely wistful lopsided smile on her face. "Is she anyone I know?"

There was no point in fighting it, so he nodded.

"Is it Kara?" asked Max, her voice catching slightly in her throat. What was that? Why did her throat suddenly feel so constricted, her chest so heavy?

Alec gave her an incredulous, almost-disgusted look and shook his head emphatically. _Thank god_, she thought. Kara was gorgeous, but she was devious. So not right for Alec.

Alec needed someone who knew him. Someone who knew that he put up a carefree front, but deep down knew with a steady certainty that he cared deeply. Alec needed someone who would push him to be the good man that he was. Someone who would grudgingly go along with his harebrained money-making ideas and still have his back the whole time.

Alec needed someone…Max sighed. She couldn't think of a single girl out there who would be good enough for him. Not that he was ever going to know that. As far as he was concerned, he was still a pain in her ass. She was never going to let him know that she actually _liked_ spending time with him.

"I got a question for you," he countered. "What are you doing here?"

Max gave him a look that said that it was obvious. "Because this is—" she trailed off, her eyes widening slightly in shock, her mouth clamping shut. She had almost said _home_.

She realized that most nights, she found herself walking into Alec's apartment for no reason at all. Even after she left Logan's place, she would drop in at odd hours to check if he was still up. She reasoned to herself that it was because she didn't sleep that's why she came over so often to bug him. To be bugged by him. To talk about their next heist. To watch TV. To invite him out to Crash. To share a beer with him.

Anything, really.

_As long as it was with him_.

Her heart hammered wildly in her chest. _Oh god_.

"Because what?" He turned to look at her.

She looked at him and her mouth went dry. Had she ever really noticed how damned beautiful he was? In all the time that she had known him, Max was sure that she knew every inch, every contour, every curve on his face. She could draw him with her eyes closed. Easy. She _knew _him.

But she had never noticed how full his lips were…never stopped to wonder how they would feel to kiss, how it would feel to be kissed by those lips. She had never stopped and stared into those eyes. In a distant part of her mind, she had known he had hazel eyes. She could tell anyone with perfect certainty what color they were to match his moods. But she'd never stopped and stared…not long enough to realize that they were the kinds of eyes that could take her very breath away.

"Max?" his voice was low, deep, reverberating through her bones. Had she ever noticed how deliciously deep his voice was?

"Hello? Maaa-aaax?" He waved a hand in front of her face.

She snapped out of her reverie and blinked at him, "What?"

He gave her a speculative, teasing smile. "What were you thinking about just now?"

She blushed. Oh damn, she blushed. She felt her cheeks go warm, felt little prickles of heat right to the very roots of her hair. "Nothing…" she lied.

"Ha!" he teased. "You're blushing!" Leave it to Alec to notice. And then to point out the obvious.

Then he frowned darkly, "Don't tell me you were daydreaming about Logan in the middle of talking to me," he ground out almost angrily.

"No! Never!" she cried. Too quickly. Too honestly. Because if she really thought about it, whenever she was with Alec, the rest of the world really just faded out. She didn't think about anyone or anything else. Not even Logan. She lived in the moment with him. Only him.

The realization struck her so hard she almost couldn't breathe. Suddenly, she noticed that he was so close, that his entire left arm touched her entire right as they sat on the couch. She realized that she was half-turned towards him, and he was half-turned towards her. Everywhere that she touched him, everywhere that she was within a few inches with him suddenly felt very, very warm.

If she leaned in just a few more inches, she could breathe him in.

Max stood. So quickly she almost stumbled, her knees were actually weak. "I have to go."

"What?" he asked also getting up. "Where?"

Max turned to face him ready to throw a nasty retort about how it was really none of his business, but her voice caught in her throat. He was so close. Her fingers tingled, her body started a slow burn of growing desire. She suddenly realized that she _wanted_ him. She wanted Alec.

Had the world gone bent?

How was it that she was standing here feeling this inexplicable magnetic pull towards _Alec_? How was it that she had always known Alec was handsome…but never really noticed it until now? Or how wide his shoulders were, or how broad his chest was? Or how his forearms, which were exposed because he had pushed his sleeves up to his elbows, were perfectly chiseled—perfect for holding her close?

Had she gone completely, utterly insane?

Apparently she had. Because there was nothing more in the world she wanted at that very moment than to lean into him, to feel his arms come around her, for her lips to touch his…and…_oh god_, she was in so much trouble.

Alec felt his hairs standing on end with sheer awareness of her. She never stood this close to him. The way she was looking at him, her eyes unfocused, her lips were parted and her chin tilted up, sent Alec's heart into overdrive. If she'd been anyone else, Alec would have been sure that she wanted—was waiting—to be kissed.

He murmured something, maybe her name, maybe _please_, he couldn't quite remember. It felt like his hands suddenly had a mind of their own as they reached up towards her. His chest grew tight, his heart pounded. He brushed her dark hair away from her face, his hand resting to cup the back of her neck, his other hand drawing her closer.

He lowered his lips towards hers, hovering just a breath away for a second, offering her that moment to pull away. She didn't.

Their lips touched in the softest, barest, most intimate caress. It was such a soft kiss, but it felt like his heart was going to break right through his rib cage, his blood was rushing through his ears, his entire body tingled.

His fingers tightened their hold on her; his arms drew her even closer, almost crushing her against him.

And he deepened the kiss.

He wasn't sure if it was him or her, but someone gasped. It was a sound of shock and sheer pleasure as she began to respond to him. One arm wrapped around his neck, the other slipped around his back and she was holding him just as close, just as tight.

She opened for him, and he moaned in pleasure.

He had fantasized about kissing Max before. He had dreamed of it, night and day. But never had they been as good, as hot, as passionate as the real thing.

She was literally fire in his arms as she kissed him back hotly. Her lips were soft, pliable as he gently grazed his teeth over her lower lip. Her fingers curled into his hair sending tingles of pleasure-pain through his entire being.

He couldn't get enough.

In one swift, effortless movement, he picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him, making obvious the intimacy of the moment.

She felt perfect in his arms.

She would fit perfectly.

He was burning as he squeezed her buttocks, pulling her tighter towards him and pushed up against her at the same time. He felt her momentary shock, and her eyes flew open. He met her gaze boldly, telling her with his eyes that _this_ was exactly what he wanted.

Her dark eyes were glazed over, swimming with desire, her lips were swollen, her cheeks hot and flushed.

"Max," he murmured softly, as he lowered his head to kiss her jaw. "I want you."

She threw her head back and gave him complete access, complete surrender to the most sensitive and vulnerable spot of her neck. "Yes…" she whimpered.

"Yes, what?" he demanded hoarsely. If anything, he wanted her to know exactly what she was doing. He needed her to say the words. "Say you want me, Maxie," he murmured as his lips burned a hot trail down the side of her neck, all the while rocking their hips together.

"Yes, Alec…please…"

… "Alec…"

_Alec…_

"ALEC!"

The voice was louder and insistent, breaking through the heat of his passion.

"ALEC, WAKE UP!"

Alec's eyes flew open in shock. His vision went red, then black, eventually clearing until he saw light again. He blinked and groaned…it was just a dream. It was all just a dream. _Of course _it was just a dream. He and Max were never even _friends_ in this lifetime.

He tried to get up, but firm arms held him tight. "No, not yet…" murmured an insistent voice. His eyes finally focused and he saw her. Max's face hovered over him, her dark hair a curtain around both of them.

He suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and he groaned. "What the hell—"

"I could _kill_ you for scaring me like that," said Max darkly, her face a warring mix of concern and anger.

He turned his head and saw his green motorcycle in flames, crushed between the side of a building and a cement truck.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" she hissed, sitting back up. He realized that his head was cradled gently in her arms, and she was holding him.

"What happened?"

"You weren't breathing, you just laid there…so still…and I…I…" her voice broke off and she stared off into the horizon. He could have sworn that there were tears in her eyes, and her body was trembling slightly. "You couldn't possibly understand how it felt…" her voice trailed.

He couldn't possibly understand how her heart had stopped when she'd seen his prone body lying so still on the ground. She had never felt the vise-like grip on her heart before. She had never felt that kind heart breaking fear before.

He couldn't possibly understand the frenzy that had spurred her into action, pumping his heart into beating once more, giving her breath to him. He couldn't possibly understand the rage and despair she felt when he hadn't responded.

Or how it hit her with perfect clarity exactly how she felt about him. It was one of those strange turning points in one's life that changed absolutely everything: She couldn't live without him.

"Alec, you _died_." She looked at him, and this time a single teardrop rolled down her cheek.

He gave her a tired smile. "No, I think I just had a wake-up call."

She gave him a wobbly exasperated look. "What?"

"I had a dream…" he murmured. "You kissed me," he continued with a lopsided smile on his face. "I think you kind of liked it."

She couldn't hide the amusement on her face. "Wow, that must have been some knock on your head, huh?"

"Actually, I'm sure you liked it." His grin turned devilish, before he winced from a sudden sharp pang of pain that shot through his entire body.

She shook her head at him. "You're lying here, bleeding, with a broken leg, and you're talking about—Alec, you know I'm…I'm still with Logan." The statement felt hollow, and Max knew that she'd also had her wake up call.

"That's not permanent, is it?"

She glared at him, but there was no real heat or anger in her eyes. "God, you're impossible!"

He smiled weakly at her and he took one of her hands in his. "But you care." He pointed out simply.

She gave him a long, indecipherable look. "I guess, I do," she said evenly. "I guess I always have."

"Max?"

"Hmm?"

"…You're _my_ girl," he whispered, as he suddenly fell back into blackness.

He didn't see the ghost of a smile playing on Max's lips, didn't feel the soft brush of her lips against his forehead. Didn't hear her soft whisper. "If you say so…"

**The end.**


End file.
